Washington City Ranked Among U.S. Cities With The Worst Air Quality

While America has taken great strides to curb unhealthy smogs in urban areas, some areas continue to struggle with poor air quality today. That's why Stacker found the top U.S. metro areas with the worst air pollution. Researchers "compiled a list of the metro areas with the worst air pollution in the U.S. using the 2022 American Lung Association's State of the Air Report," according to the website.

The study found that a city in Washington state was featured on the list: Yakima. Here are the stats to back up its place on the list:

• Annual particle pollution: #21 most polluted metropolitan area
• High 24-hour particle pollution days: #9 most polluted metropolitan area
• High ozone days: Not ranked in top 25 most polluted metropolitan areas

Stacker also pointed out some of the main drivers of terrible air quality in these areas were wildfires in the West, most of which were caused by humans. At one point this year, wildfire smoke made Seattle one of the world's worst places for air quality.

Here are the Top 10 metro areas with the worst air pollution in the U.S.:

1. Bakersfield, California 
2. Visalia, California (tie)
3. Fresno, California (tie)
4. San Jose, California
5. Los Angeles, California
6. Medford, Oregon
7. Fairbanks, Alaska
8. Phoenix, Arizona
9. Chico, California
10. El Centro, California

Check out the full report on Stacker's website.